Capitalismuality

Virtuality is the quality of having the attributes of something without sharing its (real or imagined) physical form.

Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit.

Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, a price system, private property and the recognition of property rights, voluntary exchange and wage labor.

Modern capitalist theory is traditionally traced to the 18th-century treatise but according to Scottish political economist Adam Smith, the origins of capitalism as an economic system can be traced to the 16th century.

Despite ubiquities, many economists criticize aspects of capitalism and point out its many flaws and problems.

Karl Marx (1818-1883), an philosopher, author, social theorist, and economist, is famous for his theories about capitalism and communism. He saw capitalism as a progressive historical stage that would eventually stagnate due to internal contradictions and be followed by socialism.

Marxists define capital as “a social, economic relation” between people (rather than between people and things).

Marx is said to have been right when he argued that the only group in society capable of fundamentally challenging the inequality, war and oppression was the very class that was most impacted by these things–the working class.

While many equate Marx with socialism, his work on understanding capitalism as a social and economic system remains a valid critique in the modern era. As he seemed to have understood the labor theory better than his predecessors (even Adam Smith) and contemporaries.

Marx, in conjunction with Friedrich Engels, published “The Communist Manifesto” in 1848; later in life, he wrote “Das Kapital” (the first volume was published in Berlin in 1867; the second and third volumes were published posthumously in 1885 and 1894, respectively), which, discussed the labor theory of value.

Though he was the capitalist system's harshest critic, Marx understood that it was far more productive than previous or alternative economic systems.

Another important theory developed by Marx is known as historical materialism.

Dr. James Bradford DeLong, professor of economics at UC-Berkeley, wrote in 2011 that Marx's primary contribution to economic science actually came in a 10-paragraph stretch of "The Communist Manifesto", in which he describes how economic growth causes shifts among social classes, often leading to a struggle for political power.

This underlies an often unappreciated aspect of economics: the emotions and political activity of the actors involved...

Food for thought!